Delegation confident Waddell will get funding

Last month was a reasonably productive time for your legislator and the Beaufort/Jasper delegation. After all the weather-related time off and the scheduled furloughs, it was good to get back to the people’s business.

One of the key state installations in District 120 is, of course, the Waddell Mariculture Center. Located out toward the end of Sawmill Creek Road in greater Bluffton, Al Stokes and his crew of scientists and technicians do extremely exciting and productive work in support of our sport fishing industry in and around the Lowcountry. They also do more specialized work related to water quality and general marine ecology.

Due to redistricting that led to the creation of the new District 120, I inherited Waddell from my friend and colleague Rep. Bill Herbkersman, who had invested a tremendous amount of effort and creativity in keeping this critical facility afloat during our fiscal hard times.

Needless to say, I also inherited all those sport fishermen, fishing guides and outfitters, water-quality watchdogs, and just about everybody in the county who understands the crucial role played by Waddell in the protection and preservation of our special part of South Carolina. We can count on hearing from Jimmy McIntire, Collins Doughtie, Dave Harter and a dozen or more of the usual suspects at least once a month, often with increased frequency during budget season.

You may remember that last year, during conference committee (which reconciles the differing particulars between the Senate and House versions of the budget), the renovation appropriation for Waddell was stripped out of the budget, much to the disappointment of all.

We in the delegation were so confident we could return those dollars to the budget this year, we encouraged Al Stokes to use a portion of his line-item funding for the most-needed renovations, with assurances he would be made whole this year.

The good news is that Waddell is made whole with some additional resources to make up for another year of patching roofs and replacing nets and pond liners.

With the Waddell dollars in the House budget, we have every confidence that our delegation colleague, Sen. Tom Davis, who also sits on the Senate finance committee, will shepherd those sorely needed dollars to Waddell even if they are not included in the Senate appropriations bill. So Jimmy, Collins and Dave and the rest of the usual suspects can rest easy for a bit.

While on the subject of water quality, and especially the critical role it plays in nearly every aspect of life in the Lowcountry, I want to share the fact that my project as a Liberty Fellow will involve an awareness campaign that will seek to highlight the role of our local estuarine and coastal waters in making this part of the world so amazingly attractive.

Folks are attracted to coastal South Carolina for a host of reasons they often find hard to articulate. Without revealing too much of my evolving project, I would like to say that it will give them plenty of reasons to help understand why they feel the way they do. Many of those reasons are obvious, but some are subtle and have to do with the fact that much of life on the planet is dependent on the nurturing waters of the Carolina coast.

Finally, I want to express the happiness Rose and I feel at the news that Donna Huffman is back in Bluffton and doing well after an extended stay at the Medical University of South Carolina. Donna, as many of you know, is the founding editor of the Bluffton Breeze, as well as the lovely wife of my good friend, Ted Huffman, mayor pro tem of the town of Bluffton.

Weston Newton represents District 120 in the South Carolina House of Representatives. His column runs monthly in Bluffton Today. He can be reached at westonnewton@hargray.com.